Mark Stosberg of Bikes as Transportation wrote to tell us of a project he’s worked on — creating a bicycling map of Richmond, Indiana. His website details all the steps to undertaking such a project, and the steps are expertly presented. His site has it all, from planning for such a project, the actual field work needed to produce a map, presenting it to the city and even fundraising techniques to help float the project. It’s definitely worth a read, and his experiences may inspire others to craft their own city’s map. Check it out…you won’t be disappointed!

The Tampa area is lucky in the fact that despite slow infrastructural improvements for bicyclists, the area’s Metropolitan Planning Organization has been producing bike maps for several years. There are two versions: one is a “bike suitability map” that details good, ok and poor road choices for bicyclists with color codes, and the other is a pair of maps that detail on- and off-road bikeways, both existing and future. All of those maps are available by visiting the Hillsborough MPO site.

I like to whip up customized Google Maps for folks looking to get into riding. I think this is helpful in that they often do not know the best way to get onto the official bike routes in town or are still uncertain as to how safe they may be.

I like to make customized Google (actually G-Maps) maps for new commuters, too. It’s pretty rewarding to see their faces when they discover an easy, quiet route from home to work.

I’m really glad to see people step up to the plate for their communities — encouraging more bicycles on the streets helps push cities (well, at least hopefully) toward developing more bike-friendly infrastructure.

Thanks for the link. The project has been a success initially. In the first 24 hours, I was able to get over 3,000 of the 5,000 maps out to distributors. A local college and high school are making them available to every student who wants one.